27 Comments to “How Is a Blog Like a Bridge?”

1. January 17th, 2008 at 7:28 am
   Safiyyah said

   Hello! I am a Muslim woman living in the United States. Blogging has bridged me to other Muslims all over the globe! I have made many cyber friends. One of them who lives in North Africa, has parents who live near my city. When my friend visited her parents this past summer, we hooked up for the afternoon. Now she is no longer a User Name is cyber space. She is now my true sister of my heart.

2. January 17th, 2008 at 8:07 am
   Robert Hruzek said

   Talk about your leading questions! Liz, you just had to know I’d jump in on this one! My chapter in The Age of Conversation spoke about this very thing.

   The first thing a bridge does is connect two points. Why is that important? Because it reduces the distance between the ends. Instead of taking the long way around, you just make a short hop and you’re there!

   Blogging is like a bridge because it does the same thing. The shortest distance between any two people on earth is a conversation. Blogging is millions of ‘em, going on all at once. It doesn’t matter whether they are next door to each other or on opposite sides of the globe.

   There are bridges literally everywhere! And even better, I can go from bridge to bridge and connect with practically anyone I want! All because of blogging.

   Amazing!

3. January 17th, 2008 at 8:49 am
   Alina Popescu said

   Interesting perspective Liz! I’d add the fact that once built, the bridge not only connects, it allows continuous traffic between the two points. It enables constant exchanges of ideas, thoughts, fun and feelings.

4. January 17th, 2008 at 8:51 am
   ME Liz Strauss said

   Hi Robert!
   Yeah, you’re bridge builder if I ever knew one. With every word you write your bridge becomes more amazing and inspiring. Look how your bridge has brought so many people together already.

5. January 17th, 2008 at 8:52 am
   ME Liz Strauss said

   Hi Alina!
   Constant traffic of new people who bring new ideas. Yeah, bridging the thought gaps to make understanding.

6. January 17th, 2008 at 9:02 am
   Alex Shalman said

   Blogs are like bridges in several ways. Like Robert mentioned, they connect A-B quicker than before. As Alina mentioned, they enable a constant flow of traffic.

   Let’s look at the shadow cast under the bridge due to the sun’s angle. I think it represents the people that read and lurk our blogs, instead of taking the top of the bridge and joining the conversation.

   Also, we must remember that trolls live under bridges, and we must be nice to our trolls and feed them.

   Oh, I almost forgot, not only does the height of the bridge represent the higher path that we are all taking in communication, but… it also represents that if we stop communication it’s going to be a long fall!

   Btw, Liz, I’d like your take on my most recent theory on life at my blog.

7. January 17th, 2008 at 9:06 am
   ME Liz Strauss said

   Hi Alex,
   It was a blog that built the bridge between you and me.

   Great comments you left here. So much thought. I enjoyed reading them. You’re a metaphor master.

8. January 17th, 2008 at 9:23 am
   Mike DeWitt said

   Wow! After reading the comments, I was hard pressed to add anything. All I can say is that a bridge (which requires a substantial investment) signifies that the connection is important and ongoing to the folks on both ends.

   Ditto for blog authors and readers.

9. January 17th, 2008 at 9:38 am
   ME Liz Strauss said

   Hi Mike!
   Significant investment is a really good point. That leads to the idea of ongoing maintenance to keep the bridge useful and stable.

   

10. January 17th, 2008 at 9:59 am
    Robert Hruzek said

    Great points; especially that one about maintaining a bridge. Absolutely necessary to keep those lines of conversation going! Nothing sadder than an unused, broken-down bridge; useless and neglected. So much wasted potential!

11. January 17th, 2008 at 10:02 am
    Ontario Emperor said

    Ironically, I use the term “bridge” in my resume materials for my professional career (e.g. I have served as a bridge between engineers and customers).

    Doubly ironically, my personal blog is mostly outside of the scope of my professional career. Something for me to think about.

    Actually, I don’t think of a blog as a bridge, but rather as the hub of one’s personal wheel. Bridges only connect two places, and if the bridge is used as a model, then a blog consists of a ton of bridges to many different locations.

12. January 17th, 2008 at 10:19 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Robert!
    Keeping the lines of conversation open is important. Looking out for potholes that make it harder is a good thing too.

13. January 17th, 2008 at 10:23 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Ontario Emperor!
    Great to see you back again!

    A bridge between engineers customers is a good thing. I’d bet both the engineers and the customers are grateful for the translation.

    Your perspective on a blog as a connector still hits to the heart of what we’re saying. The image you draw is wonderful.

14. January 17th, 2008 at 10:27 am
    Joanna Young said

    Hi Liz, I learned the metaphor of the bridge from Robert and it has served me well.

    Where else we could take this…

    A good bridge…needs a good design… has solid foundations… provides a beautiful view… has traffic that goes both ways…keeps business moving… takes us to places that we couldn’t imagine going before…

    Smiling

    Joanna

15. January 17th, 2008 at 11:28 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Joanna!
    Brilliant!

    Every way.

16. January 17th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
    James-DigitalKeyToInfo said

    Like a bridge?
    It is a bridge.

17. January 17th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    #1
    Hi Safiyyah!
    Sorry you had to wait.
    Welcome!
    Your story is a beautiful example of how blogs connect people in very real ways. It warms my heart to read about the friendships you’ve found. Thank you for bringing your experience to us.

    You’re not a stranger anymore.

18. January 17th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Well said, James.
    I so agree.

19. January 17th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
    Edrei said

    Long story short.

    A bridge connects one end to another and it works both ways

    A blog connects you personally, your product or your business to the world and it works both ways from writer to reader and vice versa.

    The usefulness of the bridge is determined by the ability for it to hold it’s weight and not fall under it. So should a good blog have the ability to carry it’s weight in what it’s supposed to be carrying whether it be stories of your life or information about your business.

    Sometimes even the best bridges don’t have to be all the more pretty or outstanding. Sometimes they have to be there at the right place, for the right purpose.

    A blog should have no less a meaning.

20. January 17th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Edrei!
    All of your points are important.

    But I so like this one . . .

    Sometimes even the best bridges don’t have to be all the more pretty or outstanding. Sometimes they have to be there at the right place, for the right purpose.

    One person, one idea can change the world. One blog can change a life easy.

    I bet your blog has changed many.

21. January 17th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
    --Deb said

    I can’t begin to tell you how many friends I’ve made because of blogging. Real-world friends that I can get together and laugh and knit and spin with, which is truly priceless.

    Oh, and that picture? Truly beautiful–I can’t help but wonder where the photographer was standing, though!

22. January 17th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Deb!
    I fell the same way. I can’t count how many friends I know, and they truly priceless.

    You really should check out all of the pictures at the blog . . . the bridges are truly amazing.

23. January 19th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
    Anna said

    oemperor’s idea of a hub reminds me of a picture of an old railroad roundhouse. (Go here http://www.crawfordhistorical.org/RoundHouse.htm if you want to see a diagram) with tracks coming in from all directions in and the ability to follow many exits as you leave.

    But I don’t know if I would say a blog connects one to the world so much as it connects us to one another. I was having lunch one day with 3 very close friends who don’t have opportunity to get together very often anymore. Even with just 4, conversation was difficult at times, talking across each other and trying to keep up with different tangents.

    I can’t talk to the world, but I can talk to people one or three at a time. So, for me, the bridge isn’t to the world or the blogosphere, but to people, one at a time.

24. January 19th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Anna!
    Keeping up is so hard. Doc Searls call his blog an “email to the world.” I guess that’s another kind of bridge, isn’t it? Any conversation . . . like any addition problem . . . to me, is between two, then moves out from there. I talk to two, but really I talk to one and one at a time.

    Like a bridge to each one, individual conversations. I understand, I think, what you’re saying.

25. January 22nd, 2008 at 4:30 am
    Blogging Footsteps « Lives Less Ordinary said

    [...] under Environment, Inspiration   Recently, Liz Strauss at Successful Blog asked the question How is a blog like a bridge?  The question over defining blogging through metaphor has played in my subconscious for a while [...]

26. March 20th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
    Whoa said

    To me, my blog is the means to get across the tech gap… To get those who do not know in touch with those who do, to get those who are halfway the means to get back to shore and start fresh in terms they find safe enough to get through step by step.

    And like any other bridge, it means to be one of the ways you can take daily to that other village to get what you need from them and head back home.

    If you strip the tollbooths (the tech tax imposed by some people who make stuff more complicated to the everyday pedestrian) and take good care on making it not only solid (your knowledge) but beautiful (your implementation/design/etc should be attractive). Also patrol it from time to time, because not only there are bad people trying to burn it, but the gap becomes wider everyday, and you have to add some new materials to it.

    Don’t do it and the bridge will likely fall.

    Now substitute the tech gap with any other piece of human knowledge, and the same analogy works… Thanks Liz, now I have the means to explain what i do and why i do it!

27. March 21st, 2008 at 5:06 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi whoa!
    I really like that you added the part about needing to keep in the beauty and the connection to everyday people.

    Keeping patrol from those who might harm it is the same as you might do for any person or structure or business you care for.

    You’ve draw this metaphor so clearly. I’m delighted it’s become a useful tool for you.